Fallen Star
by Lady Eivel
Summary: Dudley's eigth birthday has some nasty surprises in store for the Dursleys... AU Dark Harry, Power Harry
1. Death of the Dursleys

Harry sat bolt upright in bed. Sweat poured down his face, but although the nightmare had been bad, he did not make a sound. He knew what would happen if he did. His ears strained to hear the Dursleys sleeping to make sure he was alright, letting out a sigh of relief as he heard his uncle's loud snores.

He hated it here. Hated every minute of it. The Dursleys hated him, he didn't know why, and didn't even seem to care whether or not he lived out each day. Usually, when he was beaten really bad, he didn't care either. Most of the time, though, he would be thrown into his cupboard by a leg or arm (which tended to be broken by then) and left to scream inside his head, asking the same question over and over. '_What did I do to deserve this?_' If he made any noise, there would be another beating, which could have been worse, depending on how tired Uncle Vernon was by then.

But when the Dursleys were asleep, his life wasn't any better. Because he went to sleep as well. And sleep brought the green light. And the woman's scream. That was why he had woken up- he had had the nightmare again. It was driving him mad. If only he knew answers- who the woman was, why she was screaming, where the green light came from. And above all, why why **WHY **was he stuck with the Dursleys? The questions chased each other round his mind until he was dizzy. He just wanted answers. That was all. Just one answer for one thing, maybe. Even that would be a relief.

You never got answers with the Dursleys. You couldn't even ask questions- if Harry asked about anything, his Aunt would practically have a fit and his uncle would go mad with rage. A beating would always follow that. Once Harry had even been thrown down the stairs when he asked why he had to live with them and where his parents were. His leg had broken- he still remembered the searing pain. But- and here was the odd thing- everything his uncle gave him, every bruise, cut or broken limb always healed within hours. Harry'd be sitting in his cupboard, willing it to heal… and it would. No matter how bad it was. It puzzled him, but seemed to give his uncle a kind of evil delight. Now when his uncle was about to beat him, Harry could definitely see a glint in his eyes- like a cat that has cornered its prey.

He stopped. He could hear footsteps above his uncle's snores. That meant his aunt was up. His thought were confirmed when he heard her coming down the steps- his time spent under said steps meant he knew what each of his relatives sounded like on their way up or down, and this was definitely Petunia's soft, deliberate tread walking down above his head right now. As quietly as possible, he slipped under his thin, ragged blanket and pretended to be asleep. A shadow passed over the room as she peered through the grille on the door, giving a small 'hmm' when she saw Harry 'asleep'. As she went into the kitchen, he heard sing softly 'Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday to diddums…' Harry groaned and ducked under the blanket, hoping that hadn't been true. Because what he had just heard meant it was Dudley's birthday. And that meant Dudley would be worse than usual to Harry.

An hour later, Vernon's thudding footfalls went down the stairs above. Dust, dislodged from the ceiling, fell into Harry's face. He coughed quietly. A few minutes later, Dudley thundered down the stairs. Halfway, he paused before going up to the stair he knew was above Harry's head and jumping on it- yelling "WAKE UP SCARHEAD!" Harry swung round and off his mattress. As he came out of the cupboard, though, Dudley shoved him back inside. Harry slammed into the wall and stood there for a minute, winded. Then Vernon called "BOY! Where are you, boy? Get in here!" Harry slowly made his way into the kitchen, where Petunia ordered him to get all the toast buttered.

When he had finished, he piled it onto a plate and carried it over to the table, where Dudley was eyeing his presents and trying to count them. When he finally failed miserably, he turned to his father demanding to know how many there were. "25" came the reply.

"25! But LAST year I had 26! I want more!" Yelled Dudley, about to go into a tantrum.

"Consider yourself lucky" Harry told him as he dished him some toast "I only got one!"

"I DON'T CARE!" Dudley screamed into Harry's face. "Daddy, can I beat him up?"

"Count it as an extra present son." His father said without looking up from his newspaper. A malicious look spread over Dudley's face. Shoving his chair back, he stood to face Harry.

"I call _this_ one the Dudley amazing underarm punch supremo!" Dudley said, barely able to contain his delight. However, as he swung his arm forward to Harry's stomach, hot anger blazed inside his target. Harry was seeing red. He would NOT let Dudley bully him any more! He would not let ANYONE bully him anymore! Without thinking, he imagined a shield in between him and Dudley. He closed his eyes to concentrate on it more. He opened his eyes when a yell of pain resounded from his cousin, who was now holding his hand as though he had just punched something seriously hard. For a moment, Harry was surprised it had worked- it was obviously the shield his cousin had hit. Why hadn't he thought of it before? And if he could do defence…

Now it was Harry with the evil smirk. His cousin and aunt cowered away, but Vernon kept reading his newspaper. Harry called to mind all the times his uncle had beaten him. His smirk grew even wider as he thought of a brilliant way to repay him. Vernon did not notice, Petunia and Dudley being too scared to tell him. Without looking up, Vernon muttered "Show him who's boss, Dudders."

'_Odd last words, but for you I think they'll do.'_ Thought Harry. Anger swelled up in him again. He waited until it was at it's peak, then gathered it into his hands, which glowed a deep red. Raising them, he pointed them at his target and with a yell, released his anger. Vernon barely saw it coming. The red light hit him squarely in the chest. He screamed once before slumping on the floor. Petunia wailed. Dudley wrenched himself away from his mother's terrified grasp. "Diddums, nooooo!" Petunia shrieked. Dudley did not hear her- intent as he was on avenging his father. Harry turned to him, leering. "You're next, _birthday boy_." In seconds, Dudley had joined his father.

As his cousin keeled over, Harry looked over his body to where his aunt stood crying. She looked him in the eye, sobbing "Why? Why? Why are you doing this?" Harry simply raised an eyebrow.

"Thought you never liked people asking questions. You know the answer to that anyway- my turn to ask you one now." He glared at her "_Why_ was I stuck with you?"

"Y-your parents…" Petunia whimpered "Th-they d-d-died. M-m-m-murdered. I d-d-don't know who by…"

"Thankyou" replied Harry "That was all I needed to know. Makes you pretty useless now." Looking at her one last time, he struck her down like her husband and son before her. With one last glance around the room and his dead relatives, he focused on trying to get out of there. It was worth a try. He needed somewhere to go, somewhere he would be wanted…


	2. Escape to The Forest

Disclaimer: As much as I wish otherwise, I do not have the creative genius of JK Rowling and therefore do not own Harry Potter.

Author's Note: Wow! You guys seem to like this- nearly 1000 hits already! I am inspired to write another chapter. Big thanks to you all- especially those who reviewed and here's the next chapter! Sorry if it's a bit short- it's just that I had a certain ending in mind and I could only write so much leading up to it. More next chapter, but here's this one:

CHAPTER TWO

_With one last glance around the room and his dead relatives, he focused on trying to get out of there. It was worth a try. He needed somewhere to go, somewhere he would be wanted…_

Suddenly his body was gripped by the worst pain he had ever felt- and that was saying something. It felt like he was being shoved through a narrow tube. His eyeballs were being forced into his head, everything hurt, something would break soon…

_CRACK!_ The pain stopped as quickly as it had begun. Harry opened his aching eyes to see a blurred mass of greens. He rubbed his eyes, then wished he hadn't as they stung harder. When he finally opened them again, his vision had cleared and the mass of green had become a forest. Well, it was somewhere else. That was a start. He still didn't know where it was- but at least it wasn't Number Four Privet Drive. It was cold, though. He shivered, trying to think himself warm. It worked- despite the baggy, tattered summer clothes he was wearing, which did not help.

He decided to go exploring. He had nothing better to do anyway.

After walking a little while, he stopped. He was aware of movement in the undergrowth. Before long, a small snake emerged from the plants. It reared up, regarding him carefully.

"I'm not gonna hurt you." That was true. He did not want to get on the bad side of this guy- he didn't know whether or not it was poisonous. To his surprise, the snake seemed to understand him. And he got the shock of his life when it began talking back.

"Who are you…" Harry stood there for a moment, just looking at the reptile.

"Er," What did one say to a snake that spoke perfect English? "I'm Harry…"

"What are you doing here…"

"Erm, I…" actually he didn't really know. Why was he here, of all places? Why hadn't he gone somewhere nice "I ran away from somewhere". Well, it was true.

"Are you in league with _It_?"  
"What's _It_?" the way the snake had emphasised the word got Harry's attention.

"Ssssurely you know?"

"'Fraid not, I'm kinda new here."

"_It_ lurks in the darkessst placesss. _It_'s alwaysss sssearching, alwaysss killing..."

"Sounds like a really nice guy."

"Are you here to help usss?"

"Erm, not exactly." Harry felt uncomfortable. Sure this thing was killing loads of helpless little animals, but what was he, Harry meant to do about it? He was having a little mental battle. One side of him was adamant that it wasn't his problem, the other equally insistent that it was. Eventually, the latter clouded, whispering to him that if he had _dealt with_ the Dursleys, then he could easily deal with this. The lighter half of him crumpled under the force of the blackness. "Where do I find this guy?"

The snake had led him as far as it dared. Then it had fled, taking some of Harry's confidence with it. Great. Still he'd promised himself he'd kill this thing. But with every step, his resolve faltered a little more until it followed the snake. But by this time, Harry was lost. There was no turning back.

He crept slowly forward. The trees grew closer together here, and there were no animals. Everything was silent, every sound made by his feet amplified.

There was a rustling in a nearby bush. "Who's there?" Harry whispered. He didn't dare talk any louder. Terror gripped him as a black shadow slithered towards him…

Ooh, my first ever cliffy! I'm evil, I know. Update will come pretty soon- but I have a lot of homework and another fic to work on. And next chapter will be set in England, so you'll have to wait a while before you find out what's happened to Harry. Again, I know I'm evil. It's actually kinda fun.


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